The original needs were just a simple program and a set once environment was envisaged. I also figured I could just make changes on the phone and it would all be real easy. Unfortunately I have some issues with the unit itself and then with my changing requirements.
Originally the unit just watered sprouting barley in a controlled temp environment as feed for my cattle. I found when I added new trays of seeds after the daily feed out it was better to give the seeds a good soak rather than rely on the mist spray program, since my feed out is dependent on weather that program can’t be timed, hence the need for a button. Carrying the phone is a pain because I pressure clean the trays from the feed out before filling with seeds, it’s a bit of a wet process and the unit is remote from the house. Also I like to run the program manually to check the sprinklers, I do that from the valve now.
I’m going to add some manual switches that will just go in parallel to the controller.
I’ve found other issues, even though I set the brightness of the display to stay on so I can see the IP address, it just goes dim. The IP address changes when the power goes off and using the phone is a pain because you need to set the phone up again. The iPhone app should really just be configurable manually so if it doesn’t connect at say 192.168.2.100 then you can just use 192.168.2.101. It seems to cycle between the two but if you connect and it can’t find that controller it forgets the setup.
Anyway the parallel switches will do it for me. You’re correct if I’d predicted my requirements I’d have just got a more manual controller